Puddles Of Space
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: It went untoched for over a century... but when they find it, what'll happen? (Co-written with Cry-Of-A-Warp-Engine)
1. God's Lost Ring

_**Arizona, 1912…**_

With a napkin, he wiped his brow of the sweat that had formed, and folded it neatly back into his blazer's front pocket.

Mr. Walker confirmed that this was the planned meeting spot, in the old desert town between the saloon and the paddock. He decided to remain sat in the comfort of his motor car, a new Peugeot Type 126 which he had purchased on his last visit to France, and had arranged to have it shipped over with him upon his return. All against his manor, his many acres of land, his race horses, his bright yellow Peugeot was his pride and joy.

He sat there routinely wiping his forehead and brushing sand off of his shoulders for the following half hour, until the sound of a horse trotting towards him perked his attention. He closed the book he'd occupied his time in reading, and stepped out to greet the arrival.

Once they discussed their initial business, the archaeologist who had arrived left his horse in the care of the paddock owner, before he boarded the Peugeot as Mr. Walker rotated the handle on the front until the engine came back to life, and also flicked on the two large headlamps, before they drove off along the bumpy old stone road.

It took them two hours to cover the 50 miles, but eventually they reached the dig site. They had been digging for dinosaur fossils, and there was a full skeleton there… but it wasn't prehistoric beasts that Mr. Walker was here for.

"And you know something… this thing is _deeper_ than the fossil, meaning it's way older." The archaeologist explained, Mr. Walker looking at him in surprise.

"And I thought you said the dinosaurs are many millions of years old?" Walker questioned.

"They are. Whatever this thing is, it's even older." The archaeologist answered as they crossed the hill brow, and then Mr. Walker stopped in his tracks. He removed his glasses, and in that moment thought that if there was such a thing as gods, this must be the work of them.

There in the ground was a perfect ring, around 20 feet in diameter. It seemed to be made of three main sections, outer, middle and inner rings, and on the outer one were nine chevrons equally spaced around the ring. The middle ring was covered in perfectly equal square divisions, each one containing a strange and unique symbol. Nearby there was also a second item, some sort of pedestal with two circles of buttons around a large red crystal ball in the middle.

"I looked up its design in the library of the college… it has striking resemblance to a hieroglyph found in Egypt, which appears to show a ring with a star in the middle, and gods walking out of it. It almost sounds like…"

"A gateway to the gods." Mr. Walker finished, the archaeologist nodding. "Could this be the gate to the kingdom beyond?"

"I suppose only time will tell." The archaeologist responded.

They would go on to fully excavate the ring and pedestal, and examine the surrounding areas. It became Walker's life work to find out what the gateway really was and if it could work. However, he would pass away in his 70s before he could manage to do much more than find out that the middle ring and chevrons worked simultaneously to enter in coordinates, but no kind of language he knew would translate out when he tried to enter them in through the pedestal.

His grandson didn't really believe in the same thing, that it was a gateway to the gods or even anything remotely of the sort. However, 'God's Lost Ring' as it had been named, would take a prized position in his museum, many decades later.


	2. No One Knows The Reasons Why

_**Phoenix, Arizona, 2/3/16…**_

Amanda was sitting outside Brie and Daniel's house, knees tucked to herself as she looked out at the sunset… today had been too much not only on Brie and Daniel but herself as well.

She heard footsteps and looked up after Finn had sat down next to her.

"It's not fair… he deserves better than to be told that he can't get back in that ring." Amanda responded quietly as Finn rested his left hand on her right hand, her eyes reddened from crying as Finn pulled her into his lap.

"It ain't right to cut him off so suddenly, he was still right in there with the career and everything." Finn agreed with her.

"I… I still want to hold onto hope that he'll be cleared one day. For nearly 20 years, it was his life and he loved it… he still does." Amanda whispered as she leaned against Finn, who rubbed his left hand up and down her back… before he noticed her rubbing her left wrist as a dull ache shot through it. "Still aches every now and then… broke it when I was..." She explained, trailing off and Finn realising what had caused the injury after remembering that Amanda had started training to wrestle when she was 14.

"First taste of the industry… probably made you think twice for a moment or two." Finn replied.

"Yeah… didn't go near that trampoline that Matt and Jeff turned into a wrestling ring for a while after that. Poor guys felt so terrible because of what happened but it wasn't their fault." Amanda said as they stood up and his arm wrapped around her back as she leaned against him sleepily.

She looked up when they saw Brie and Daniel… and Amanda walked over, her and Daniel embracing and her burying her face into his right shoulder as Daniel lightly stroked her hair.

"It's gonna be okay, Mandy…" Daniel whispered before they let go, Amanda and Brie hugging before Amanda and Finn headed upstairs.

The four had gotten ready the next day and Daniel had blindfolded Amanda before helping her into the passenger seat of the Equinox.

"Where are we going?" Amanda asked as the four were on the road with Daniel driving.

"It's a surprise, kiddo." Daniel explained.

"Then why am I the only one blindfolded? Brie, why did your hubby blindfold me?" Amanda questioned, Brie chuckling and lightly rubbing her friend's left shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's to do with how you like your history." Brie replied, Daniel nudging her arm.

"Well don't tell her, she'll find out when we get there." Daniel responded.

The car stopped and Amanda was helped out and led into the building, Finn taking the blindfold off and Amanda's eyes widening.

"See? We can focus on different things to change everything." Finn replied.

After a while, it was when they reached one exhibit that Amanda walked over to it and saw it clearer.

"They didn't go into much detail about this in History class when I was in ninth grade…" Amanda responded quietly.

"God's Lost Ring, hey? Quite the name to give to something." Finn responded as he walked up beside her, looking at the large arch, made of a metal that had never been identified as any known material on the earth.

"It is…" Amanda replied before they heard a loud whirring sound. "What the hell?" She muttered as they walked over to where it was echoing from.

"Maybe they've got one of those mechanized exhibits and they just turned on the power. Big or old electronics tend to hum a bit." Finn responded as they looked around the area.

Amanda looked closer… and then her eyes widened as the humming turned sinister and reacted by shoving Finn out of the way as the exhibit roared to life and she was thrown against the wall before falling to the floor unconscious, Finn pulling himself up and running over to her before crouching down and finding that Amanda's left arm was burned as Brie and Daniel reached them.

"What is that?!" Daniel questioned as he looked up at the ring which was sparking and launching clouds of energy from the inside… before the middle ring started to rotate, and seven of the nine chevrons began to light up one by one, until they all extended and a much larger cloud launched outwards, staying there for a moment before flying back to the reverse side and spiralling around, a field of a water-looking substance calmly forming within the ring, the middle glowing with a bright light like it was the end of a long tunnel.

Finn wasn't paying attention and Brie dialed 911… Daniel crouched down, placing his hands on both sides of Amanda's neck as she slowly woke up and tried to move, Finn also stopping her.

"I… I can't feel anything in my arm…" Amanda said quietly as Finn lightly brushed her hair back. The look she had was heartbreaking and Finn helped her sit up enough so he could hold her.

"Oh crap…" The four heard, coming from the ring. They looked, Finn only briefly glancing, to see a teenage girl stood there who hadn't been moments before, stood in shorts, a tank top, a camo hat and with a backpack on, all seeming to be mildly wet. "Just… back up, I know how to fix it."

"'Back up'... piss off!" Finn responded, refusing to move and the girl rolling her eyes before she stepped over and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to look at her.

"I get that you might be her boyfriend, brother, bestie, whatever makes you so close to her but do you have any idea what an unstable vortex burn even is?! I bet you don't, and I'm sorry to break it to you but the ambulance won't make it here in time to stop her from literally melting in front of you, so let me fix it and then you can hug her to your heart's content!" The girl said in a solid tone.

When she crouched down to Amanda, she saw the fearful look in her eyes before setting her backpack down.

"I know you're scared… but I know you're not trying to run." The girl responded.

"Couldn't if I tried… legs are hurting." Amanda replied.

"Yes, that's the paralysis effect. Should wear off if I get this done quick enough." The girl responded, opening her backpack and taking out a small metal tin, containing an assortment of small vials and coloured fluids. "Drink that, that'll numb the pain of what I'm about to have to do."

"Pain of… what exactly?" Finn questioned, backed off but still intent on knowing what was happening.

As Amanda drank the vial, the girl raised a small device. "Someone hold him back… really sorry about this but it's way better than disintegrating." She said before she pressed the device to Amanda's arm right in the middle of the burn, Amanda screaming out as it worked, something shooting through her veins faster than her pain response could keep up, faster than she could even respond with a jolt or movement as Brie and Daniel held Finn back.

Eventually, after a few seconds that felt to her like years, the device flashed green and it parted from her skin, a trail of blood falling from where it had been.

"Sorry… but at least you won't melt now." The girl apologized.

Amanda nodded as the girl motioned to Brie and Daniel to let Finn go, Finn wasting no time in helping her sit up before turning to the girl.

"I'm sorry for how I acted… whenever she gets hurt, I just… I lose my mind." Finn explained.

"It's okay… my brother and cousin are no different to me. Oh, and speak of the devil." The girl responded, before two men stepped out from the field of water in the ring, both in similar humidity type clothing and looking towards the group.

"Don't tell me she got a vortex burn!" The taller, blonde haired man said, the girl stopping him as he was about to head over.

"I already treated her." The girl responded, the man loosening up a bit and giving her a small rub on the shoulder.

Amanda was still dizzy as she leaned against Finn, who held her as Brie and Daniel crouched down, Daniel lightly turning Amanda to him and moving his finger to get her to follow it.

"You suspect a concussion?" The girl asked.

"Happened before to most of us." Daniel explained.

"Did you give her the pathway thingy?" The other man with darker hair questioned, the girl nodding.

"Pathway… but you said…" Brie started to question.

"Pain killer? Yeah, I… was trying to calm her a bit about it. There is no pain killer that will work against it, it's on another level entirely. In reality, that vial was the difference between a concussion and a full on stroke." The girl answered.

"Mind still feels like it's being rattled…" Amanda responded as the girl crouched down.

"It will do. Might wear off later on but you'll feel it in the morning like a ten tonne hangover." The girl replied.

"You don't… look like much of a doctor…" Amanda said as she managed to finally get her eyes to focus properly on her.

"No, and I don't talk from training either. Experience is what fuels me… I've had to have that thing twice since I was 12, and it only takes the first to never forget it." The girl responded.

Amanda nodded and rested her head in her hands as Finn wrapped his right arm around her and rubbed his left hand up and down her back.

"Give her a few minutes to fully return to her senses, then you should get her right to a doctor. By then, it'll look like she simply burned her arm and jumped to escape, took a nasty fall in the process. That's what I said to doctors when I had it last." The girl said after a moment.

"Thank you… what's your name?" Daniel replied.

"Alena. Blondie is my brother Nigel, and that's my cousin Cole." The girl answered.

At the nearby ER, Amanda and Finn were in the trauma room by themselves after she was fixed up… being as careful as he could, Finn cradled her face in his hands and got Amanda to look at him, knowing she felt terrible about what had happened.

"I should've never gone near that machine…" Amanda said quietly.

"None of us could've ever guessed that would have happened. The thing has been dead as a rock for apparently thousands of years, it coming to life again out of the blue was just… we can't even understand it now." Finn responded, before the two looked at each other. "And hey… regardless of how small or extreme, mistakes are to be learned from. Somehow, I don't doubt that those three who came through that thing will tell us a thing or two about them."

The two held each other, Amanda paying no attention to her phone though it was ringing.


	3. There's Always Someone Who Knows

Sami grumbled in frustration before seeing Bayley walk into the hotel room.

"Can't reach her?" Bayley asked after she sat down.

"Something ain't right… I know she's devastated about Daniel having to retire but… I feel like something else…" Sami explained before both heard frantic footsteps and saw Dean. "Dean, what's going on?"

"Have either of you seen John?!" Dean asked.

"What happened, where's Mandy?!" Bayley responded as she and Sami stood up.

"She's in the hospital, something about a burn wound and concussion!" Dean answered.

Sami called John as the three left the hotel.

"Sami, what's going on?!" John asked.

"Are you outside the hotel?!" Sami replied.

"Yeah." John responded.

"Meet us by the car, you and Nikki!" Sami said before hanging up, John turning to Nikki.

"Brie's not answering her phone…" Nikki responded, John knowing that she was worried… but before he could say anything, he and Nikki were being dragged to the Equinox by the others.

When they reached the hospital, Nikki and Brie hugged tightly as John found Amanda and held her close to him after seeing her injuries.

"Where the hell were you all when this happened?" John asked after they let go.

"A museum… one minute, I was near something and the next thing I knew…" Amanda responded, trailing off and John seeing the bruises that had formed on the back of her neck…

And when his hands rested on her shoulders, he could feel that with the exception of Amanda's burned arm, the rest of her body felt cold… John pulled the blanket closer to Amanda to try to keep her warm as Alena walked in.

"I… guess I made the wrong assumption when I thought he was her brother, you two look a lot alike." Alena responded, motioning to Amanda and John.

"It's alright… with those two, most people assume that they're sleeping together." John replied, Amanda lightly nudging him.

"Slightly less innocent then. Me and my brother and cousin once got mistaken for gods mind you, so I suppose it's not that bad." Alena responded, laughing a bit towards the end.

Amanda managed to stretch back out when she once again heard her phone ring and answered it, Liara breathing a relieved sigh.

"You had me scared to death!" Liara responded.

"It's on the news…" Amanda replied.

"Well the accident is, someone filmed that part… how are you feeling?" Liara questioned.

"Just burned my arm and got a concussion and a few bruises." Amanda explained, leaving it at that.

"You were standing pretty close to… whatever that thing is. I guess that discharge it made doesn't like skin." Liara responded.

' _You don't know how right you are, Li.'_ Amanda thought. "Yeah… it doesn't. I think the museum might close the exhibit down for a while after what happened." She said.

"Probably until they work out what the hell it was and how to control it if it happens again." Liara replied.

"Yeah." Amanda responded before she heard Ty in the background.

"Okay, okay, keep your pants on!" Liara said before handing the phone to him.

"I'm okay… just hoping to get out of here soon." Amanda explained.

"I'd fucking shout at you and then kiss you if I wasn't engaged!" Ty responded, laughing after Liara shoved him on his arm in response to his joke.

"You better behave yourself, Ty." Amanda replied.

"I'll try. Stay safe." Ty said before they hung up and Amanda nudged Finn before John and Alena let them be.

"Hey. Why no laugh at Ty's joke?" Amanda questioned as Finn moved closer and wrapped his arms around her.

"He'll be a married man in a few months." Finn responded as they moved back… but Amanda could tell that it was something completely different.

"He wouldn't do anything to hurt Liara." Amanda replied quietly, absentmindedly resting her bandaged arm on him and Finn carefully resting his right hand on her left one. "You know, I'd say you're just being protective… but you're even more shaken than I am after what happened earlier."

"You almost died today, Mandy… I almost lost you. That's something I just… can't even bare thinking about." Finn answered.

"No one… ever likes to think about losing someone they care deeply about. If I ever lose you, I'd… I'd feel like I'd lose myself too." Amanda responded quietly as they held each other, Finn lightly running his fingers through her hair.

John watched them for a while until he turned to Nikki and pulled her into his arms, the two holding each other as Brie and Daniel were hugging too.

The longer Alena stood there, the happier she was for them all to be so close… and yet the more she wanted to get out. It only took one glance down at the shiny device on her belt to turn it and make her dart away, heading for the now darkened outdoors.

As John quietly stepped towards her, he heard her whisper something. A small word, a name he assumed… then she heard him and turned around like a shot and raised the shiny device, which sprang open into a Z shape and the way she held it made it instantly obvious that it was a gun of some kind.

"Damn, I… sorry." Alena apologised, quickly lowering the weapon and clicking it back into a folded form.

"It's alright… but you should sit down and try to relax." John responded, Alena doing so.

Once at the house, Amanda had gotten cleaned off and changed before cleaning the wound and bandaging it. She walked into the room, fleece camo pants slightly falling off her as Finn got her to sit down.

"I forget how tiny you are at times." Finn replied.

"I hate how tiny I am at times. Can't reach things… was always getting shoved down in school and then my hair would get pulled." Amanda responded, Finn seeing a faded scar at the base of her scalp. "You notice it too?"

"Someone yanked the hair right from your scalp?" Finn questioned.

"Yes and that's why I hate it when my hair gets pulled in the ring… back of my head hit the stone steps that day." Amanda answered, Finn cringing at that thought.

"Big ouch… we all take tumbles at some point, I suppose." Finn replied.

"Yes we do… and she went crashing down with me." Amanda responded as she snuggled closer to him.

"Then that's the best thing about it. She can push you down, as long as you can drag her down with you." Finn joked in response as his arms went around her more fully.

Amanda nodded and fell into sleep, Finn kissing her on her forehead… before feeling the bed jolt slightly and seeing Josie looking at him curiously before she walked over and whined slightly after seeing Amanda's bandaged arm.

"She'll be okay, Josie…" Finn whispered, Josie curling up next to them before Finn drifted off into sleep as Amanda's right foot twitched slightly.

Josie couldn't see who was standing by the curtain as it fluttered but she knew someone was there.

 _ **November 13th 2006, 4 hours before Raw…**_

 _Amanda was outside in the Manchester snow, clearing her mind… it had been a year since Eddie's death and it was hitting her hard. But as she was letting her tears fall, she heard a slight humming sound and her head snapped up to see a girl about her age._

" _Please don't do that again, do you get some sort of thrill out of sneaking up on people?" Amanda responded as she stood up… but the girl was unsympathetic and narrowed her eyes at the brunette as she observed her._

" _Well something got you crying, what is it, lost a boyfriend?" The girl replied._

" _Something ain't right with you." Amanda muttered before she turned to leave… only for the girl to turn angry and grab her by her hair, turning the small brunette to her._

" _Says you, balling in the open! Now how about you spit it, or you can spit the broken tooth out of your gums when I'm done swinging you round the street like a mace by these locks here?!" The girl growled in response._

 _Amanda punched her, the two tumbling down the steps as they fought… until the fight was broken up by Randy._

" _Hey, no fighting out here, this is too damn dangerous!" Randy responded, pressing a washcloth to Amanda's wound. "Mandy, drop it, babe!" He said, Amanda dropping the bloodstained rock as the girl stood up, bruised and bleeding._

" _Go before you'll be choking on your teeth, bitch!" Amanda growled threateningly, the girl storming off and Randy leading Amanda into the arena._

" _Sometimes you've gotta get out and let it all out…" Randy said quietly._

" _And sometimes you can't." Amanda responded as the secret lovers kissed…_

 **Present time…**

Alena knew this was risky but she had to do so.

Waiting outside Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, she had used Amanda's phone to text Seth before putting the phone back and taking the car keys and a Balor Club hoodie as well as some of Amanda's clothes that she had borrowed earlier… she had the hood up to hide her hair and with her luck, Seth had gotten in the backseat.

"Flight went okay?" Alena questioned, emphasising her accent a bit more than usual to sound more like Amanda.

"As okay as it can… you seem rather tired." Seth responded.

"Haven't been sleeping much." Alena replied before shifting the car into drive and pulling away from the curb. "Your knee healing okay?" She asked after turning the radio on, _If You Could Read My Mind_ by Gordon Lightfoot playing.

"Yeah… should be back in the ring in a few months." Seth answered.

"Well, good… just no more tension and anger around me and him when you come back, okay? It's not fair to anyone." Alena replied, Seth rolling his eyes a bit. "Don't think that I don't see that. I'm just being honest, you dick. Finn didn't do anything wrong, never did anything to provoke any of this." She said, Seth startled by the sharpness of her voice but chalked it up to a natural reaction.

He jumped a bit as she inadvertently stopped too suddenly at a red light and shifted the car into stop.

"I'm starting to think you should retake your driving course." Seth muttered.

"There's never been anything wrong with my driving, I've always been a good driver!" Alena responded.

"Yeah, until today it seems." Seth said in response.

"Yeah, we'll maybe you causing havoc around me and Finn is wearing on my nerves, think of it that way! Think of my driving as running parallel with how stable my patience with you is holding, because it's less than a mile from running into a ditch!" Alena replied.

"Maybe you need to see that neurologist again." Seth responded.

"Ain't happening, ain't nothing wrong neurologically… and never has been anything wrong, Seth." Alena replied before putting the car back in drive and driving… and the last part of what she said really confused Seth.

"Pull over!" Seth responded.

"Why? I ain't switching, you can't drive with a bad knee!" Alena snapped at him… but Seth forced her to pull over and put the car in park before pulling the hood down.

"You're not Mandy! The hell's going on here, who are you?!" Seth replied.

"Name's Alena… look, I need help digging something out of a sand dune, don't want Mandy risking further damage to her arm and Finn's not gonna let her out of his sight anytime soon so I texted you." Alena explained. "You should've seen how terrified he was when he thought he was losing her, she means the world to him." She said.

"Yeah, she goes and he's got nothing but his own hand to spend the night with." Seth muttered in response, jolting back as Alena's hand cracked across his face.

"Finn is a much more honest friend to her than you ever were, and you do _not_ say anything like that to anyone, forget about saying it to him! Now… we're going to a museum, and we're gonna see just how important your little world really is." Alena responded, at first in an angry growl.

Seth nodded as Alena drove again, reaching the museum and the two getting out and walking into it.

"Why is that part cordoned off?" Seth asked after seeing the exhibit cut off by crime scene tape.

"I'll explain it later." Alena responded as they reached the one that her and her family had emerged from. "Here we go." She said as she grabbed onto him and he followed her into the exhibit, as the ring began to turn and the chevrons lit up one by one. "No, stay back a minute." She said, quickly blocking Seth from stepping closer as the 8th chevron locked, that being the top keystone… then the gate formed, and Alena had stopped Seth just far back enough to be clear of the unstable vortex as it erupted out and then returned back into the portal, which was again a calm field of a fluidic substance. "You learn the safe distance simply by looking at it after enough experience… hopefully, you'll never have to."

"This thing, how stabilized is it?" Seth asked.

"If they haven't picked the ring apart, the portal will stay open for a good hour or so. But I'll disable it once we're through, just keeping it linked so we can get back quickly." Alena explained.

Following her, Seth looked around and began to think back.


End file.
